Grace United Church | United Church in Thornbury, ON

Grace United Church is live

December 29, 2024 - Sunday Service - Music with Carol and Chris

Guest Speaker

Sunday, December 29, 2024

Chat

Service and Hymns

Playlist

Loading chat...

December 29th, 2024

1^st SUNDAY after Christmas

Carols with Chris & Carol

Find this service at www.graceunitedthornbury.ca/live

Leading us today in Worship:
Lay Leader: Carol Clarke
Director of Music: Dr. Christopher Burton
Lay Readers: Shirley Woolner, Debbie Potts

Leader: regular font ~ All: bold font ~ Sung words: bold italics.
Asterisk * Indicates when the congregation may stand if able.

We Gather

PRELUDE
“Christmastime is Here” - V. Guaraldi

A Stewardship Moment:
What if our life’s purpose is simply to share? When we give time and money, skill and expertise, we are making a faithful statement about what we believe and value.

WELCOME

THE LIGHTING of the CHRIST CANDLE (Rev. JGS)
As we come together this morning,
Let us light the Christ candle to remind us we are not alone. Christ’s spirit is with us, and in us, all around us.
May the light of this candle stay with us while we worship
And be a beacon of hope in our hearts when we leave this place. AMEN

OUR COMMITMENT to SAFER SPACE &ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of the LAND
We believe all people are made in the image of God and are entitled to dignity and respect. At Grace United Church we try to offer a safer, inclusive and generous space for all who are seeking a faith community. We offer full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, all races, ages and abilities in the life and work of the ministry.
Grace United Church is situated on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabek, Petun, Huron-Wendat, and Mississauga peoples, located within the boundary of the region of Treaty 18 of 1818. We humbly acknowledge the First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples of Canada as traditional stewards of the land on which we work and worship and are committed to working actively toward genuine restitution and reconciliation.

CALL to WORSHIP (AWA)
Praise the Lord from the highest heavens.
Praise God, sun and moon;
sing for joy, you shining stars.
Praise the Lord from the deepest seas.
Praise God, fire and hail;
Dance in ecstasy, snow and frost.
Praise the Lord from the hearts of the faithful.
Praise God, young and old;
laugh with mirth, wise and meek.
Worship the Lord our God.
Pay homage to the ruler of heaven and earth.

*CAROL: “Joy to the World” VU #59

1. Joy to the world! the Lord is come:
let earth receive her King!
Let every heart prepare him room,
and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing,
and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

2. Joy to the earth! the Saviour reigns:
let all their songs employ,
while fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,
repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

3. No more let sins and sorrows grow,
nor thorns infest the ground:
he comes to make his blessings flow
far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found,
far as, far as the curse is found.

4. He rules the earth with truth and grace,
and makes the nations prove
the glories of his righteousness
and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love,
and wonders, wonders of his love.

OPENING PRAYER (AWA)
God of holy mystery,
it was no heavenly stranger
that came to save us;
it was no happy accident
that freed us from captivity;
it was no careless gesture
that showed us the ways
of life and death.
You are our light and our salvation.
You alone are worthy of our worship and praise.
In this season of Christmas,
remind us once more of what you offer:
a love born of endless searching,
a connection born of deep longing,
a future born of selfless sacrifice.
Be with us now
for we are your people
and you are our God. Amen.

*CHRISTMAS CAROLS by REQUEST

We Listen

LESSONS, CAROLS & STORIES

1^st LESSON: John1: 1-9 New International version
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

*CAROL: “Silent Night” VU #67
Story
In 1816, Father Joseph Mohr wrote the poem “Stille Nacht! Heilige Nacht!” while stationed at a pilgrim church in Mariapfarr, Austria. Two years later, now at St. Nicholas’ church in Oberndorf, he asked Franz Gruber to set the poem for guitar and choir, which the two performed on Christmas Eve of 1818. Since then, a legend has grown around the circumstances of this collaboration, beginning with a broken organ at St. Nicholas’ and ending with a dramatic, last-minute musical setting for the now-familiar carol. To what extent the legend of the carol’s origins is true is perhaps less important than its beauty and simplicity.

1. Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild,
sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.

2. Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight:
glories stream from heaven afar,
heavenly hosts sing Hallelujah,
Christ the Saviour is born, Christ the Saviour is born.

3. Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light
radiant beams from thy holy face,
with the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.

2^nd LESSON: Psalm:148 VU #871 (Responsive)
Refrain: Let the whole creation cry.
“Glory be to God on high.”

Praise God from the heavens; give praise in the heights!
Give praise, all you angels; praise God, all you hosts!
Praise God, sun and moon; give praise, stars and lights!
Praise God, farthest heavens, and all waters beyond heaven!
Refrain: Let the whole creation cry.
“Glory be to God on high.”

Let all things praise the Holy One at whose command
they were created,
who established them for all time,
setting bounds, which cannot be passed.
Praise God from the earth,
great sea creatures and ocean depths,
lightning and hail, snow and frost,
gales that obey God’s decree,
all mountains and hills, all fruit trees and cedars,
wild animals and cattle, creatures winged and earth-bound,
sovereigns who rule earth and its people,
all who govern and judge this world,
young men and women alike,
old people and children together!
Refrain: Let the whole creation cry.
“Glory be to God on high.”

Let all things praise the name of God,
the name above every other,
whose splendour covers heaven and earth.
You give strength to your people,
songs of praise to your faithful,
to Israel, the people dear to your heart.
Refrain: Let the whole creation cry.
“Glory be to God on high.”

*CAROL: “O Little Town of Bethlehem” VU #64
Story
In 1865, the famous preacher and abolitionist Phillip Brooks rode on horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem and participated in the Church of the Nativity's Christmas Eve celebration. In response to his experience there, he wrote the now-famous carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” which was first performed by the children’s choir of his church a few years later. Unlike many Christmas carols, the lyrics of this reflective and hopeful song are set in the present tense rather than the past. The author’s experience of wonder and awe are palpable and cover the seemingly great distance between the birth of Christ then and our experience of it now.

1. O little town of Bethlehem,
how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
the silent stars go by;
yet in thy dark streets shineth
the everlasting light;
the hopes and fears of all the years
are met in thee tonight.

2. For Christ is born of Mary;
and gathered all above,
while mortals sleep, the angels keep
their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
proclaim the holy birth,
and praises sing to God the King,
and peace to all on earth.

3. How silently, how silently
the wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
the blessed gift of heaven.
No ear may hear his coming;
but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive him, still
the dear Christ enters in.

4. O holy child of Bethlehem,
descend to us, we pray;
cast out our sin, and enter in;
be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
our Lord Emmanuel.

3^rd LESSON: Isaiah 9: 2-7      (NIV)
The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
    as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
    when dividing the plunder.
For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
    you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
    the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor.
Every warrior’s boot used in battle
    and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
    will be fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.

*CAROL: “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” VU #44
Story
Written by Massachusetts Unitarian minister Edmund Sears, this pastoral-sounding carol carries a much deeper meaning than simply retelling the birth of Jesus. Sears hoped to offer an uplifting message amid the great poverty he was witness to and to remind people that God, in the form of a child, had entered a world sorely in need of love and peace. Richard Storrs Willis’ tune, CAROL, paired with the words only a year later, gave the carol its lasting appeal and one of its two most common tunes, the other being NOËL.
A very fine movie made in 1992, A Midnight Clear, tells the story of American and German soldiers laying aside their weapons on Christmas Eve of 1944. The story ends tragically, as miscommunication causes hostilities to resume. Yet, the powerful third verse of the carol, with its invitation to hush the noise of battle in order to hear God’s “love song” to the earth and all people, is a strong one. This carol speaks gently, yet powerfully, God’s word of peace amid strife and weariness.

1. It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold,
‘Peace on the earth, good will to all,
from heaven’s all-gracious King!’
The world in solemn stillness lay
to hear the angels sing.

2. Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled;
and still their heavenly music floats
o’er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o’er its Babel sounds
the blessed angels sing.

3. Yet with the woes of sin and strife
the world has suffered long;
beneath the angel strain have rolled
two thousand years of wrong;
and warring humankind hears not
the love song which they bring.
O hush the noise, and cease your strife,
to hear the angels sing.

4. For, lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophets seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold,
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendours fling,
and the whole world send back the song
which now the angels sing.

4^th LESSON: Based on Luke 2
A reading taken from the Children of God Storybook as retold by Desmond Tutu

Jesus is Born
The Roman emperor ordered everyone in Judea to go to the town where their father had been born so they could be counted. Mary, by then quite pregnant, traveled to Bethlehem with her husband, Joseph. When they arrived, all the inns were full. Finally, a kind man let them sleep in his stable with the animals.
A cow was mooing and sheep were baaing. Then everyone heard the sound of a baby crying. Baby Jesus was born! Mary placed him gently in the manger on a bed of hay. All the animals gathered around and tried to snuffle the new baby with their noses.
Outside the town, shepherds tended their sheep in the fields. Suddenly, the sky lit up and an angel appeared.
“Don’t be afraid, said the angel. “I bring the most wonderful news: God’s son has been born in Bethlehem! He will bring great peace and joy to the world. You will find him sleeping in a manger.” Soon angels appeared in the night sky, singing, “Glory to God in the highest!
The shepherds found Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the stable. They sang songs of praise that filled the night and gave thanks to God for the Saviour of the world.

CAROL: “The First Noel” VU #91 vss. 1&2
1. The first Nowell the angel did say
was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
in fields where they lay akeeping their sheep
on a cold winter’s night that was so deep.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
born is the King of Israel.

2. They looked up and saw a star,
shining in the east, beyond them far;
and to the earth it gave great light,
and so it continued both day and night.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
born is the King of Israel.

5^th LESSON: Based on Matthew 2: 1-12
The Three Wise Men
Far across the desert, wise men watched a new star burst into the night sky and knew it was a sign from God that a great king had been born. They followed the star to Jerusalem.
“Where can we find the newborn king?” they asked.
King Herod was shocked to hear about a new king. Will he take my throne? he wondered.
“Come back to me when you have found the child,” he told the wise men.
So they continued on their way, following the star to Bethlehem where they found Jesus in his mother’s arms. The wise men bowed down to the baby King and offered him gifts of gold incense and myrrh.
But an angel warned the wise men not to tell Herod about the child. So, when they left Bethlehem, they traveled by a different road.

CAROL: “The First Noel” vss.3,4&5
3. And by the light of that same star
three wise men came from country far
to seek for a king was their intent,
and to follow the star wherever it went.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
born is the King of Israel.

4. This star drew nigh to the northwest;
o’er Bethlehem it took its rest,
and there it did both stop and stay,
right over the place where Jesus lay.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
born is the King of Israel.

5. Then entered in those wise men three,
full reverently upon their knee,
and offered there in his presence
their gold and myrrh and frankincense.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
born is the King of Israel.

6^th LESSON: Based on Matthew 2: 13-23
Escape to Egypt
When Herod found out that they had left without telling him, he was very angry. “Kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem!” he shouted to his soldiers.
God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream. “Herod is going to look for your baby to kill him,” the angel warned. “Take Mary and Jesus across the desert to Egypt Stay there until I tell you it is safe to come home.”
Years later, the angel again came to Joseph in a dream. “Herod is dead,” he announced. “It is safe to take Mary and the child home now.” The little family packed up and crossed the desert again to find a new home in Nazareth.

CAROL: “The First Noel” vs. 6
Then let us all with one accord
sing praises to our heavenly Lord,
that hath made heaven and earth of nought,
and with his blood our life hath bought.
Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell,
born is the King of Israel.

We Respond

PRAYERS and THE LORD’S PRAYER (VU #910)
As you have drawn us to your cradle of wondrous love, O God,
draw us together in this place, that we might
pray for your people and your world.
Today, we give you thanks for the gift of your child, Jesus Christ,
who in birth, life, death, and resurrection revealed
your unending love for all people and opened to us
the purpose and promise of life together.
We give thanks also for the gifts of this season:
hope for the vision of justice you promise, even in the midst of despair;
for peace within and among your people, even in the midst of conflict;
joy found in reunion and celebration, even amid the challenges of this life;
and love, with the power to transform and heal all things, even in the midst of brokenness.
We pray for those who still long for these, your gifts, God of Love:
for those who will spend this season alone or anxious…
for those who grieve an empty place at the table this year…
for those who are ill, in body or in spirit…
for those in hospital and in care…
for those who endure the terror of conflict and oppression…
for those who will go hungry this day, and who long for the simplest of creation’s gifts…
for your people and your world, we pray, O God.
Let us listen to the angels’ song again, your song of love for this world.
Move us to return that song in what we say and do,
that we may be instruments of your hope and peace and joy and love.
We pray these things in the name of Jesus, who became the Christ,
and who taught us when we pray to say, Our Father…

MEMORIES & BLESSING TREE

INVITATION to the OFFERING
We are called to love our neighbours as ourselves, to pray for them and to act in accordance with our prayers. Our offerings today are one way we respond to our calling, both through the ministries of this community of faith and through the ministries made possible by Mission and Service. I invite you at this time to share God’s abundance

PRAYER of DEDICATION of OUR OFFERINGS
Gracious and loving God, thank you for giving us this opportunity to share. Thank you for helping us to love and do good deeds. May our gifts and our giving help us to grow in love and care for the world. Amen.

Donate online: www.graceunitedthornbury.ca, select “Give”
or contact the office by email: accounting@graceunitedthornbury.ca
or phone: 519-599-2438 to arrange a cheque pick-up, or an e-transfer.
Mail: Grace UC, 140 Bruce St. S. PO Box 219, Thornbury, ON N0H 2P0
or Offering Plate at the back of the sanctuary.

Tap your debit card at the door of the church, or Donate to Grace United Church through CanadaHelps.org. Our account is set up with them now and it is easy to register. Tax receipts are given automatically at the time of giving. Care, Prayer, Share

What’s up at Grace?

We Go Out

CHRISTMAS CAROLS by REQUEST

*SENDING (AWA)
As we journey through the Christmas season,
more than a star guides us,
As we traverse the hillsides of faith,
more than a messenger shows us the way.
As we ride the rapids of our lives,
more than an angel shields us from harm.
When we live the truth of Christmas,
more than the delight of holiday meals blesses us.
In Christmas we taste the joy of our salvation.
we touch the presence of the living God.
Go with God.

*SUNG SENDING: “Go Tell It on the Mountain” VU #43
Refrain:
Go, tell it on the mountain,
over the hills and everywhere.
Go, tell it on the mountain
that Jesus Christ is born.

1. While shepherds kept their watching
o’er silent flocks by night,
behold, throughout the heavens
there shone a holy light.
Refrain:
Go, tell it on the mountain,
over the hills and everywhere.
Go, tell it on the mountain
that Jesus Christ is born.

2. The shepherds feared and trembled
when lo, above the earth
rang out the angel chorus
that hailed our Saviour’s birth!
Refrain:
Go, tell it on the mountain,
over the hills and everywhere.
Go, tell it on the mountain
that Jesus Christ is born.

3. Down in a lonely manger
the humble Christ was born,
and God sent our salvation
hat blessed Christmas morn.
Refrain:
Go, tell it on the mountain,
over the hills and everywhere.
Go, tell it on the mountain
that Jesus Christ is born.